


I Spy with my Little Eyes

by Jayenator565, Mac_Aroni



Series: I Spy With These Little Eyes, Something Beginning With...You [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, F/F, F/M, Implied Character Death, Spies & Secret Agents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-18
Updated: 2015-08-14
Packaged: 2018-04-04 22:51:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4155960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jayenator565/pseuds/Jayenator565, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mac_Aroni/pseuds/Mac_Aroni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Welcome to the life of Clarke Griffin. She's a girl like any other. Her mom a council member of the Ark and her dad was a chief engineer. This didn't tend to meant much except that that while the other kids were at the playground or having ice cream she was learning how to diffuse bombs and how to pick locks. Not to say she didn’t ever have ice cream. She just had to earn it, usually through executing a correct grab or tackle. Basically the badass spy Clarke fic I never knew I needed until I started writing it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Something Beginning With J(ake)

**Author's Note:**

> This is what my brain thins of at 2 in the morning. Don't question it just let me know if you like it, or hate it, or just don't understand it. And please, I hope you enjoy

So for clarity:  
" normal talk"  
' thoughts'  
**' radio/comm or phone calls'**  
_" trigedasleng"_

 

\--

 

She was the daughter of one of the council members and the chief engineer. Of course at the time it didn’t mean much to a 6 year old. At first it just meant that while the other kids were at the playground, or going to school, or having long days in the park filled with ice cream, she was learning how to diffuse different types of bombs, and how to pick every and any type of lock. Not to say she didn’t ever have ice cream. She just had to earn it, usually through executing a correct grab or tackle. While they played tag, there were times when the floor she was training on was literally made of lava. Honestly she didn’t see the fun in it but the few other kids in the neighborhood insisted it was a great game. If only she hadn’t mentioned it to her engineer of a father.

Nope being the daughter of a council member of the Ark and its head engineer didn’t really seem like such a big deal. It just meant she was gonna have super cool spy powers just like them when she grew up and the thought never stopped making her smile. Plus it wasn’t like she didn’t have friends. She did. She just couldn’t tell them all about her super-secret training. Or answer their questions honestly when they asked her while at the pool how the heck did she get such cool muscles. Well that’s what the boys asked, the girls kinda thought it was gross but she suspected they were just jealous. Reading underlying emotions, another thing she had learned.

Thankfully she wasn’t alone in her predicament. She had Wells and his dad was also a super-secret spy agent. And he wasn’t just any agent Wells whispered to her one day, “He’s Command.”

She gasped, “Wells!” and began to hit him on the arm, rather hard actually, “OW! Stop it!”

“Now they’re gonna kill me Wells!” reducing her voice to a whisper she said, “No one’s s’pposed to know who Command is dummy. They’re gonna come for me. Your dad's gonna send the special scary people!” She glared at him.

Still rubbing at his slightly bruised skin he glared at her, “Of course I know that silly. I don’t want you dead.” He shyly added “You’re my best friend.”

Feeling slightly sorry that she had hurt him her gaze softened, “Then why did you tell me?”

“Well before I was so rudely interrupted-“Seeing her returning glare he continued hastily, “I’m allowed to tell cause your mama’s gonna be the next Command.” He finished in a tiny whisper.

“No way.”

“Way.” He nodded at her solemnly

 

And it was true she hadn’t gotten killed. The identity of Command was only ever known to a select few. Those being the previous Command, the ones who would have to work as Command’s administrative and Elite Squadron consisting of a support team, strike team and honor guard as well as the Command’s immediate family IF Command decided to share those details.

Nodding in understanding the duo resumed their race to see who could scale Well’s mansion fastest.

 

\--

 

“You don’t think he’d really?...”

“Don’t think he’d really what? Retain information from the council? You know as well as I do that when he gets his god complex about him there’s no talking sense. He’ll do what he thinks is ‘right for our people’ “

“Jake we can’t jus- looks like we’ve got an intruder.”

She held her breath

And squealed when two arms entrapped her. Lifting her from her rather ingenious hiding spot behind the couch. I mean she had gone unnoticed for like 10 minutes so at least it was a new record.

“Well would you look at that. Abby, I seem to have captured our little intruder.” He smirked down at the little girl in his hands who was turned to face him. Allowing Abby to regain her composure.

“I’m not that little dad.” She huffed in his arms pouting slightly

“Of course not kid, you’re our all grown up and captured 12 year old.”

She scoffed, “I could break outta this hold if I wanted to.”

At this Jake raised an eyebrow waiting for Abby’s nod before saying, “Oh yea?”

“Yea!” she replied crossing her arms as much as she could with her father’s arms wrapped tightly around her middle.

“Ok then squirt prove it! And maybe you can get some ice cream and cookies.” He said winking down at her

Seeing her grin he locked his muscles. As much as she had improved over the years he very much doubted she could break his expert hold.

Which was why both he and his wife were surprised when Clarke executed a perfect break.

Wrenching her right hand backwards was his first surprise. His daughter had always been left handed and it caught him off guard. She then stepped back onto his left foot with her own and positioned her freed right arm around his thigh rolling forward causing the man to lose the rest of his grip and land neatly on his back in front of his equally stunned wife.

Towering above him was his smug daughter grinning a both of their faces.

Confused he could only ask, “Abby when did you teach her that?”

Shaking her head she replied, “It wasn’t me. Clarke?”

“Hmm?” the 12 year old said looking up, “Oh I saw Uncle ‘Clair do it in one of dad’s old videos of when they were training.”

“Oh?” Jake responded clearly impressed, “And how many times did you have to watch the tape and practice to get it right sweetheart?”

Shaking her own head she only responded, “I didn’t practice daddy, and I only saw it once last week. You were watching it with Uncle Theo and Uncle Clair.”

It was true that last week when Thelonious and Sinclair came over they had started going through some old training videos for old times’ sake. But how in the world did Clarke figure the move out from seeing it once in a low quality video?

Her parents shared a look as they often did. She simply huffed about adults being all unfair with their mind reading that they refused to teach her.

“Clarke honey.” Her mother began, “I’m gonna demonstrate something and I want you to repeat it as much as possible ok?”

She almost pouted again but then remembering her manners she simply shrugged and said, “Ok, but can I get cookies after?”

“Of course honey, just go outside with mom for a bit ok? I’ll get the cookies warmed up.”

 

\--

 

“Fuck!”

“Language Clarke.” He said just barely dodging to the side

“Really Wells? How old are you, you sound like my gran.” She shot her hand out again nimbly clubbing him in the side with their blunt staffs. She saw him bite his lip in pain

“Fffffuu-“

“What was that Wells? I didn’t hear you?”

He lowered his hands in defeat and mumbled under his breath

“You’re gonna have to speak up young grasshopper.” The blonde teased bringing her hand up to her ear in a teasing manner.

“You know mockery isn’t a product of a strong mind Clarke.”

“Oh please.” She waved him off, “You’ve been spending way too much time trying to impress Anya, now what did you really say?”

“Hey Anya is the best of the best. If you chose to be a tactical instead of a medical you’d be suffering for her attention too.” He said limping off their practice matt and plopping down on the bench at the side

Grabbing two bottles of water for them she threw one over to Wells who numbly caught it.

“Uh huh, changing the subject won’t make me drop it Wells.”

“You really not gonna let this go?” Seeing her determined eyes he sighed in defeat, “I said fuck you Griffin.”

“HA! That’s what I thought you said. Now that wasn’t so hard was it?” The girl in question grinning like an idiot before sitting down next to her sparring partner.

He had to keep in good condition for his application into the Ark. Technically you couldn’t legally become an agent until you were 18 but he and Clarke along with very few others were legacies. Not many agents in the Ark had actually settled down enough to have kids making the training Wells and Clarke had very rare. There was a hidden academy for special teenage candidates that seemed to have potential but even then they had nothing on legacies. Clarke and Wells had been exposed to this lifestyle from birth and there was a certain level of expertise expected of them when they joined. Or in Clarke’s case if she joined. She was still undecided on the whole thing.

“You still dunno if you’re gonna join do you.” He said it as more of a statement than anything, taking a swig from his water bottle.

“I already told you Wells, it’s not that I have anything against the Ark. It’s just, I don’t see the big deal about it. I’m not gonna be a tactician like you, I’m gonna be in the office like mom was, doing surgeries and whatever else. I just think I’d be doing more good if I became a doctor like normal. I’m not bringing anything special to the organization that they don’t already have.”

“Come on Clarke, we both know that’s not true. You’re like the best hand to hand person I know out of all the legacies I’ve met.” She huffed at him

“Hey come on now I’m serious. If you bothered to go to the meet ups you would have known. The only person remotely close to beating me was the Blakes.” She smirked at that

Wells had gone on and on about Octavia and Bellamy Blake. Their parents had both been agents and had unfortunately both died while on a mission. The two siblings were taken in by their mother’s mentor Indra and were trained by her much the same way she and Wells were. From what he’d described the two brunettes were a bit hot headed and sometimes lacked discipline but other than that they seemed like very reliable people.

“Oh yea? What about that other girl you said was hot stuff? Alexandria? The one that Anya actually raised.” She mocked the awe he had in his voice when he first told her about him.

“Oh you mean Lexa.”

She had met the girl more than once before when she was a lot younger than her current 14 years. The first time they crossed paths Clarke was there when her mom had to treat Anya and the little girl that was trailing behind her. There was another little girl too with brown eyes and dark black hair but the first one stood out more because of her braided hair and piercing green eyes. She smiled at them both and took them to a little corner so that her mom could fix Anya up in peace. They seemed nice enough

“Oh she wasn’t there.” His voice taking a somber note, “Apparently Costia, you know her best friend, adopted sister. They always hung out together. Well she went missing for a while and then they figured out she was kidnapped by the enemies.”

Clarke gasped lightly, “That’s…that’s too bad. Is she?”

“Yeah dead. According to Raven all they sent back as proof was her bloody shirt. They weren’t even going for her they were going for Lexa but of course they don't really know what she looks like. Costia just happened to be alone in Anya's house when they infiltrated.”

The pair slipped into a sad silence at the news. Another reason why she didn’t want to join the Ark, and maybe it could be considered cowardly, but this job had very real dangers attached with it.

“What happened to her and Anya?” Clarke asked quietly

“Last I heard Anya stopped with field work. She still trains people obviously. She’s trained THE best agents the Ark has ever seen over these past few years but she and Lexa have gone under very deep cover. Only a few people know where she lives now. I think she’s under Command’s protection or something like that.”

“Wells…” His friend started hesitantly which was strange in itself because if there was one thing Clarke wasn’t it was hesitant or tentative or any number of synonyms of those words.

Cocking his eyebrow he urged her on.

“You don’t think information was leaked do you?” She asked looking at him worriedly

“I mean think about it. Anya is the best of the best. No way she gets her identity compromised. And even if she did, she would’ve gone into hiding before the thing with Costia ever happened.”

“Yea I see what you mean.” He said contemplatively. Folding his hands under his chin he looked straight ahead at their practice mat.

“But I’m sure if something as serious as a mole or leaking of agent information was going on then my dad would’ve done something by now.”

“I mean maybe, yea.”

Looking at her perplexed he could only say, “Maybe?”

“Well I mean think about it from a leader’s perspective Wells.  He could reveal this information IF that was the case sure. But in doing so the mole or whoever would be alerted and may just go into hiding until a scapegoat is found. Then when they feel safe they’d go right back to it. Maybe Command is just thinking of another way to flush em out.” She argued

“Maybe, but I know my dad Clarke. An innocent was killed. After that I highly doubt he’d put his agents in any more danger by letting them into the field when their identities could be compromised. We all know the espionage network the Ark has is one of the biggest in the world. No way my dad would let them go out undercover when they could be killed on the spot.”

“I’m not saying your dad would Wells.” She said in an attempt to placate her friend, “I’m just saying Command might.”

At that Wells turned to face her looking confused and even a little angry at her.

“Sitting around here pondering about possible scenarios isn’t gonna help us anyway. Come on back to training.”

At that he stood up and hauled Clarke to her feet. She could tell they were both going to be very bruised by the time the day was over.

 

\--

 

“Honey we’re home!” Her dad bellowed into their house. “Huh, Abby? Guess she’s not here yet.”

“Speaking of mom.” Clarke said shoving her parent lightly aside so she could also enter their abode, “Wasn’t she supposed to be the one that picked me up from the park?”

“Well yes, but she’s been so busy lately preparing for her big promotion.” Clarke rolled her eyes at that knowing the promotion was code for her mother becoming the next Command in a few weeks, “I figured I would lighten the load so I texted her. She probably hasn’t even checked her phone, you know how she is.”

The father daughter duo shared a knowing grin. The mother of the family was a very hard worker. One of the best at what she did. She had to be in order to be chosen as the next Command. But then when it came to simple everyday things like checking your cell phone, Abigail Griffin was not a shining example. They often joked that in an emergency her mom would be the last to know because of her inability to just flip it over for half a second. Of course in reality if someone needed to reach her in an emergency they’d just have to use her secure Ark line in her office.

“Honestly she probably won’t be out the office for another hour. And besides I wanted to spend some time with you.” He said moving towards the couch.

“You have been awfully busy lately. But it’s cool I know you got important world saving work to do.” She replied going into the kitchen to grab some of her dad's juice before hopping down next to him on the sofa.

“That may be but you should always know if ever you need anything. And I mean anything. All you have to do is ask.” He said holding her gaze

“I know dad and I really appreciate it, honest.”

He sighed then and leaned back, “Good. And you know your mom may be eager but we’ll support you honey no matter what path you choose. You don’t have to send that Ark application in if you don’t want to.”

“Now we both know that’s at least a little lie daddy.” Letting out her own sigh she leaned into her father’s open arms.

“We both know mom would be super disappointed if I didn’t carry on the legacy. That’s all you guys have trained me for anyway.”

“She may be a bit sad yes. But it’s your life Clarke and I’ll get her to come around.”

She leaned back into his chest and heard the rumbling of his silent laughter. They both knew just how stubborn Griffin women could be.

She sighed contentedly and turned her shoulder slightly to kiss her dad on his cheek.

“Thanks dad, I really appreciate it.”

They spent a few long minutes with the TV on just enjoying the other’s company.

“I’m gonna hit the hay in a sec dad, maybe surf the web a bit. It’s been a long day.”

“Heh it’s still early, now who’s getting old?”

“Very funny. Night.”

”Of course princess, have a good night.”

“You too daddy.”

She ambled up to her room, washed and sat comfortably on her bed with her laptop in place. In the back of her mind she registered some things were missing and her drawers seemed emptier but she was too tired to care. She felt so lethargic she might as well have been drugged. Soon enough she felt sleep envelope her.

 

\--

 

It was only about an hour or two before her cell phone blasted in her mom’s ringtone. Her hand groggily emerged from under the covers and after a few failed attempts finally landed on her phone which was situated on her night stand.

“Hey mom whazzup?”

**_“Clarke? Sweetie I’m sorry I was late but I’m at the park now and I don’t see you. I know you must be tired I can hear it in your voice.”_ **

“Yea a bit I mean it’s really weird it’s only like 9 now but yea I’m not at the park dad got me.”

There was a long pause for a while and Clarke had half a mind her mom hung up.

_**“Clarke where are you?”** _

“Mom?” She sat up and tried to shake herself awake. Her mom’s tone sounded slightly panicked and that wasn’t like her.

“I’m at home why?”

_**“Oh sweetie…you aren’t supposed to be there.”** _

“Mom? What the hell is going on?” Clarke struggled vainly to fix her sleep addled mind but it felt like she was fighting against a literal fog.

“Was I-? Was I drugged? Mom!?”

**_“Don’t worry I’ll talk to him I’ll fix this just hang on sweetheart. I love you ok.”_ **

The dial tone greeted her next.

“Mom? Mom!”

Her limbs felt like lead was embedded into her very veins.

“Dad! Daddy!?”

Clarke struggled just to drag herself to the edge of her bed. She tumbled to the floor landing hard on her hip bone.

“Fuck.”

Half crawling half lying on the floor she used her left hand to force herself closer to her chest of drawers where her purse was. She opened a drawer and dragged her upper body up slowly. Groaning with the movement. Her head was swimming and darkness was at the very edge of her vision but she refused to give in.

Reaching up she managed to snap her purse and bit off the outer layer of material. A few thin strips of tablets hid underneath and she quickly jammed a green one into her mouth recalling an earlier lesson.

_‘Use green when you feel the need to sleep. Red if you don’t wanna end up dead.’_

Chewing she could ever so slowly feel the effects of the drug leave her system. And to think she rolled her eyes when her dad told her about the hidden pills. Knowing she didn’t have time for the effects of the pill to fully heal her she struggled to her feet, leaning heavily on the wall by the chest of drawers and began shuffling as silently as possible towards her bedroom door. Her phone and purse firmly in hand she cautiously peeked around the corner. The house was dark and it was late. Not that the darkness meant much to her highly trained eyes.

Her dad _should_ be in his room.

Then again she should _not_ have been drugged.

Still it was her best bet. Shortening her breaths like she was taught and feeling strong enough to not have to hug the wall she lurched forward one step at a time. She had a bit of a hallway to get through and then she had to pass by the stairs before she reached her parents room. Upon approaching her bathroom she paused but everything in the house was completely silent. Not that silence meant it was safe.

She crouched low as the stairwell came into view and almost toppled over. The effects of the drug still coursing through her system. Sticking to the shadows would be a struggle for any normal person. Sticking to the shadows when you had bright blonde hair was another struggle all its own. But somehow her mother had taught her how to become one with the darkness. It was something she herself had to learn at one point. She couldn’t afford to think about her mother right now. She needed to focus. Because that call had sounded too much like her mother knew exactly what was going on. And the only way Clarke could have been drugged was because she drank from dad’s grape juice instead of the usual orange juice since that was all she had since arriving home.

Slinking past the stairs she took a small glance. Seeing nothing downstairs she finally reached her destination. Standing against the wall she ever so slowly turned the handle and pushed inwards glad when no sound was made. She quickly slid inside the room in a prepared crouch but all that greeted her was her dad’s passed out form hunched over his desk.

“Dad?” Getting no response she put two fingers on her left hand towards his neck breathing out a sigh of relief at his steady pulse.

_'Ok, ok keep it together Griffin. You got this.’_

She reached a hand to open her dad’s mouth and pushed the pill as close to the back of his throat as possible. Then she ran into the adjoining bathroom and came back with a glass of water, tilting her dad’s head back, making sure he swallowed the tablet.

It only took a few seconds before she heard the man groan. “Sssshhhh. Easy daddy I got you.” She came behind the chair he was sitting in and helped him steady himself in the chair.

“Easy now not too fast.”

“Princess?” She could see his eyes struggling to focus on the surroundings around him, fighting past the exhaustion brought on by the drug.

That was when they heard a bang from downstairs.

The front door. He mouthed at her.

He gestured for her to get in the closet. Clarke was about to refuse but then he mouthed for her to trust him, 'there’s a gun in the bottom right corner. Under your mom’s worn sneakers.'

Nodding she hid inside while her dad settled back into the chair. His arm going under the desk where she knew he kept a pistol in case of emergencies. Despite the bang downstairs all was still silent in the house. If her eyes weren’t open Clarke might have missed the 6 figures that slunk into the room without a sound. They were clothed in all black and had guns at the ready. Combat boots and light armor over their torsos. At least 2 were female from what she could tell.

 She was still controlling her breathing but she almost gasped in shock when she noticed the Ark’s crest on their biceps. These were their people. Why did they break in? Had mom known something was wrong and called for help? Or were these guys the ones that were bad?

It seemed her dad was thinking the same because he had yet to move from his slumped position where he was feigning sleep.

The one nearest to her dad had placed his hand to his ear, “All clear, sir. Target has been neutralized I repeat Jake Griffin is out.” His voice sounded…familiar.

He gestured to the other four using the hand signals she had already memorized. One to cover the window and the door and 3 to check the rest of the house.

“That’s a negative, are you sure agent Daisy said the daughter was here?” there was a pause…that was her mother’s code name, “She called her?” another pause, “Understood, proceeding with the mission.”

It happened so fast but in her eyes it might as well have been in slow motion. The agent raised the butt of his gun up to her father’s head. She barely heard him whisper goodbye Jake when the gun went flying out his now bleeding right hand. At the gunshot her father had spun around and muffled his pained screams with his palm. Clarke stood frozen in the doorway of the closet the smoking gun still in her hand.  

The other guard at the window was slower to react and Clarke had easily turned and shot him in the head.

Her first kill

Grabbing a nearby cloth Jake gagged the injured man who tried to shoot him in the back and wrapped him in the bed’s blanket. Taking out his radio they heard it cackle to life. _ **“Sir is the mission complete?”**_

_**“Agent come in.”** _

Both of their eyes widened at Command’s voice.

“YOU you would dare send them to my house!? To hurt me and my daughter!?”

_**“...Jake I-“** _

Sensing rather than hearing their movements Jake and Clarke both turned and dodged sideways. Jake narrowly missed the bullets that the other agents were now firing at them. But by her cry he could tell Clarke wasn’t so lucky. Jake crouched and ran towards his daughter who was returning fire from her position by the bed. One hand clutched tightly around her shirt where he could see red starting to blossom near her stomach.

“I’m so sorry kid.” He turned towards her. Blood splattered on his front.

“Dad what’s happening?” She fired two more shots before turning to him. Hearing a curse in the hallway she assumed she got one in the leg from the angle she was shooting at.

“Clarke just know, I am so proud of you and whatever happens I promise. Whatever they think I did, I didn’t do it. I swear to you.”

“It’s ok dad. We’ll get through this.” At this Jake stopped returning fire and held up the radio.

“Call off your agents Jaha, Clarke is here and she’s shot and I swear to god if she dies... I’ll come back from the dead just to kill you myself.”

**_“Clarke is-“_ **

“Make them STAND DOWN!” She could see her dad’s hands shaking with rage

_**“Agents stop firing I repeat. Cease fire.”** _

At the command everything went eerily silent until the radio in her father's palmsputtered back to life

_**“...Jake I didn’t want-“** _

“I don’t care what you think I might’ve done but Clarke is innocent. I will give myself up-

“Dad no!” She reached towards him hissing in pain as the sudden movement caused more blood to come from her wound.

“Apply pressure honey it’s ok,” he said ensuring she followed his instructions before turning back to the comm device.

“I’m giving myself up but _you_  make sure _she_ lives. Do you understand me Command?”

_**“I understand Jake. Her mother is on her way now with a team.”** _

“Good, Griffin out.”

“Daddy.” She looked towards him. It had to be a ploy, a trick. They were going to kill him that much was obvious and there was no way she as going to allow that to happen.

He threw the radio angrily away and went to grab her but she backed away grunting in pain.

“Dad please.” She whimpered, tears pouring down her eyes, “Please don’t do this we can run. We can save you.”

“I’m sorry princess. I will always love you ok.” He said staring into her eyes, “Always.”

He backed away with his hands up. Two other agents moved to cuff him. She could hear the third not too far behind them also grunting in pain.

That was when things started getting dark.

“Clarke? Clarke!” She could barely make out her dad’s voice through the haze

“Please she’s lost too much blood, Clarke!”

She heard a car pull up outside and felt rough hands pick her up and take her down the stairs. She guessed she was on the front lawn when she heard one last gunshot before she completely blacked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Hi... So believe me this came from nowhere, literally today i was just lounging and suddenly 'super spy Clarke needs to happen' was blaring in my mind. This is actually done like completely written but it was over 20 pages on my word...my longest fic to date. So i split it and hopefully you guys like it enough for the second part *shrug* we'll see.
> 
> Peace!


	2. Something Beginning With C(larke)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asset: Clarke Griffin  
> Alias: Unknown  
> Skill notes: Lower Level Legacy with good potential, trained briefly in medicine  
> Intelligence: 9/10  
> Strength: 6/10  
> Speed: 7/10  
> Stealth: Unknown  
> Last known Location: TonDC University, Washington D.C, USA  
> Mission: Observe, approach and make contact

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...this is now officially a 3 part fic and i am so sorry but it just keeps being written and if i didn't cut if off there'd be like 15,000 words or something. Anyway hope you enjoy

 

It was the second day of freshman move in and to say she was stoked was an understatement. Clarke was happy to finally be able to pursue her pre-med dreams and to be left alone. The Ark owed her that at least.

 It had been four years since her father died. Betrayed by the love of his life and his best friend, accused of a crime he didn’t commit.

Four years since she had last seen her mother and her best friend Wells.

Honestly if she never saw anyone associated with the Ark again it would be too soon.

She had woken up to her mother smiling down at her. Telling her everything would be alright, that she would live. But when Clarke asked about her father she could see her mom’s eyes well up and Abby had to turn away for a moment to compose herself.

That was when she told the young blonde that her husband, Clarke's father had been suspected of leaking agent information to the Mountain Men. A terrorist organization affiliated with a gang of muscle who had a local base. They suspected this gang to be the same ones that accidentally abducted Costia to get to Anya.

How her mother could ever believe that of her father she would never know. All Jake Griffin ever wanted was peace. He fought tooth and nail for it until he realized that maybe violence wasn’t the way. He changed positions from a member of the Honor Guard to an engineer and used his brains ever since to better the world through the Ark’s technology. New types of alternative energy and farming were found thanks to his team. Of course he also had to make weapons for the agents. That was unavoidable. But, knowing that these agents were fighting to improve the future so that the next generations may not have to, was what kept him going.

The mother/daughter relationship became…strained at best. To say Clarke hated her might be an understatement. But at the same time it might be wrong because she was still her mother and a part of the blonde still had all the love in the world for her. It was a love and hate kind of feeling that was the unhealthy pillar that their new relationship was built on.

A few weeks after the whole debacle Jaha retired and Abby was sworn in as Command. By that time Clarke had finally healed enough. With Wells’ help she slipped out of the safe house past the two guards left to protect her and never looked back. Of course there was no way she would ever be totally free she knew that. The Ark was everywhere. Even with her training, after she escaped, she had found delivered to her hotel room, all the money her father had left her in his will.

She drove straight back to their old home which was now mostly empty and down into her dad’s secret basement. The entrance to which was hidden in the shed at the back. She took all his old belongings, his USB of training videos, his favorite weapons and prototypes, a map with specific markers, forged documents he had for all three of them complete with credit and debit cards that should come in handy, some old books and his watch and left.

She wasn’t foolish enough to think no one saw her escapade, as silent as it was. She just prayed they wouldn’t follow her. For two years she allowed herself to grieve...two more years were spent sorting out her new life and finally, at the age of eighteen she had applied and gotten into the University of Maryland where she intended to pursue her medical career dreams.

It was time for a bit of normal in her life.

Already moved in she had only stepped out for some food around the corner so she was shocked when she realized her door was open because for all her training she was certain she would never leave her door unlocked. Placing her left hand into her purse she grasped her literally hand sized gun. A sense of déjà vu hit her as she cautiously gripped the handle and slowly turned the door knob. Opening the door ever so slightly she slipped inside and released a breath, jumping the other inhabitant.

“Jesus fucking Christ!” The brunette had jumped almost 3 feet back when she heard the blonde breath out audibly

“Fuck! How the hell did you do that?!”

She figured ignorance was her best bet in this scenario. Her new roommate was obviously a loud person

“Uh sorry I just kinda opened the door. Didn’t mean to scare you.” She said with her best smile

Her roommate only scoffed at her, “As if you could scare me, I was just a bit startled. Name’s Echo by the way, and you are….?” She trailed off questioningly hand in the air between them

Realizing her own awkwardness Clarke firmly grabbed the other’s girl’s hand in a warm handshake.

“Clarke, Clarke Griffin.”

The girls raised an eyebrow but besides that she seemed to be very friendly and open towards the blonde that almost gave her a heart attack.

Giving her a once over Clarke noticed the girl was just a tad bit shorter than her, with warm amber eyes. Considering herself a good judge of character Clarke could tell that this girl seemed to be…restraining herself. Maybe she had a bit of a wild side she was trying to hold back in an attempt to make Clarke comfortable. Whatever it was she seemed to be hiding something and no matter how innocent she may seem Clarke would be sure to stay wary of her. It’s not like she actually trusted anyone anyway.

“Where’d you get that food it smells amazing!” she said gesturing to the bag around Clarke’s right wrist.

“Oh I got it from the Indian place around the street.” She replied gesturing to the east side, “Just walk across a block and there’s the Indian place, a Chinese place, a McDonald’s, a Caribbean place and even a Subway and Starbucks’. “

“That sounds like my new favorite street. Imma catch you later I am starving.” She said enthusiastically before grabbing a jacket and her shoes

“Later roomie!” She yelled before her grand exit.

Clarke could only shrug a bit weird yes but nothing she couldn’t handle. She surveyed her roommate’s side of the room glancing at the normal effects, 2 posters of the Artic Monkeys and the Black Keys, a few text books, a laptop on her desk charging and one picture of her and a small boy who she guessed was her brother. Besides that everything looked very staged, very clinical and very normal. Almost too normal…now that was the paranoia talking.

Hell that was the most normal she’d seen in weeks. Even as her brain mapped the large window over the bed and the door she entered through as the only exits to the space. And to think she almost pulled out her gun…almost. Sigh she really needed a breather.  She sat down and sketched the day away only stopping to greet Echo when she came back from getting food.

 

\--

 

“No.” she practically growled at those around her. The two older women eyed her but otherwise held their tongues. They knew not to test her…well at least one of them did.

“Look I know you don’t want to do this but-“

“I said no.” She never once raised her voice, the calm fury was probably more intimidating than any yell she could mutter and the newest members of her strike team could feel her anger as if it was tangible.

The eldest of the women sighed and shook her head considering it a lost cause, “I think we should consider other options.”

The other woman who was slightly taller and with long straight dirty blonde hair only rolled her eyes.

“All the other options would be twice as likely to fail as this one.”

“Oh really?” The first speaker began

“Yes Command, really.” The dirty blonde replied in a clipped tone, “I honestly feel like she is our best bet.”

“Look Anya, Indra you know I appreciate your input but this is about more than the promise I made to the previous Command. I did promise to leave the girl alone, yes. But forgetting that, even if by some miracle she doesn’t hate this organization for what it took from her, even if she, for some reason, agrees to work with us on this...she has never undergone the full extent of proper training in the academy or otherwise-“

“Come on Lexa, she’s a legacy, same as you.” Anya said cutting her off, “And did you hear Blake’s report from last week? The girl snuck up on her. On. Her. Agent Blake said the girl had entered a room without her knowing while holding a _plastic bag._  And I'm sure I need not remind you that Agent Blake has in fact gone through the full extent of proper training from the Academy to your Elite Squad." Enunciating her last words carefully.

At the raised eyebrow she simply continued, “My point being she obviously at the very least hasn’t forgotten her training. It may even be safe to say she kept it up these past few years."

With a sigh Indra decided to get involved, “Anya we’ve said our piece, let’s leave Command to mull it over some more but for the record. “ She said holding eye contact, “ I agree with Anya, she could be our best and safest bet.”

Lexa sighed and turned to the members of her Elite Squad assessing them.

Agent Bellamy Blake, older brother to the currently undercover Octavia Blake. He had a strong protective streak and was extremely loyal to a fault. It made him a good leader in some ways and an even better soldier in others. He had already served the Ark for a year. Undercover name – James Rhodes

She turned to her closest friend of the group Agent Reyes and noted with curiosity her excited smirk

“Sooo….are we going with the new code names or….?” Reyes asked letting the question hang. Honestly she wondered how on earth she and the girl had become friends during the past few years.

Agent Green and Jordan seemed ecstatic at the prospect and Agent Miller had a slight smirk on his lips as well. She was grateful to Agent Pine and Agent Blake. At least they seemed to still be acting their ages.

With another deep sigh she hung her head in defeat, it really couldn’t hurt to give into this request.

“Yes!” Agent Green and Jordan yelled simultaneously self high-fiving.

Agent Reyes did a tiny hop in place causing a few raised eyebrows and went to the front of the team to give them their new code names, “Avengers assemble bitches!”

Lexa only looked on amused at the selected codenames. At least Raven was…creative.

Agent Lincoln Pine, had already served on the strike force for 3 years and spent 2 years on the honor guard before that, she would be the third elected Command that he would protect. Undercover name –  Steve Rogers

Agent John Murphy, a brash and sometimes overly aggressive recruit. But he had grown to be one of the most respected agents after he not only escaped being a prisoner from their enemies but he also refused to divulge any Ark secrets during his torture. Undercover name – Clint Barton

Agent Nathan Miller, an often soft spoken but more level headed member of her group. He had served 4 years already, one of them under her command. He like Lincoln was more level headed than the others but he was still a punch first ask questions while punching kinda guy. It was good in some ways, he never once questioned his orders. Undercover name – Sam Wilson

Lincoln and Bellamy along with Octavia Blake and on occasion Jasper Jordan if necessary comprised her field strike team while agents Fox and Monroe were recovering from previously attained injuries.

Agent Jasper Jordan, undercover name – Nate Romanoff, a bit of a nerd and her lead chemical engineer, barely cleared for field work but he was a good shot, she had to admit. Best friends with one

Agent Monty Green, their coding genius. He, Jasper and Murphy were the only ones on the team that weren’t legacies. Instead hand-picked from the academy to join the Ark. Undercover name – Bruce Banner

Agent Raven Reyes, undercover name – Tonya Stark, their premier engineer and mechanical genius. Paired with Monty and Jasper the trio could create everything from anything given enough time. Lexa had known her and Lincoln the longest of all of them and she could easily consider them to be her friends.

Finally her gaze rested on the newest member of the group who had just been ushered in by her youngest honor guard,

Agent Harper McIntyre, undercover name Wanda Maximoff, second year honor guard member and close friends with the currently bedridden Monroe.

Command looked at their newest prodigy pointedly before speaking

“What do you think? You know her best. Right now all I need to know is if she’d join us. After that, _if_   I approve this mission,” she paused for a second at Raven’s knowing gaze, walking around her desk before continuing, “I’ll need to know everything I can and you’re the best bet for that.”

He took a deep breath knowing this was coming, “I think, she’ll want to do what’s best for the most people possible and if it means she gets a chance to set the record straight, clear her dad’s name. I think when presented properly she would accept.”

He paused considering her next words, “As for knowing more about her, her personality, her behaviors and skill level I can only tell you what I knew from 4 years ago. I haven’t had any contact with her since.”

Agent Wells Jaha, newest recruit. Most likely to be placed on the strike team once he’s passed their assessments. Good tactical mind like his father. A bit too cautious though, hesitant with human lives in play. At one time friends with Clarke Griffin. Undercover name – Donald Blake

Nodding at his answer she dismissed them. Deep down she knew this was the right thing to do. They had all heard of how despite killing Jake Griffin the information still continued to leak. It was what lead to her being Command so soon after all. Abby Griffin wrought with guilt and worried over her daughter couldn’t lead as she should and gave up the title after 2 years. With all the agents potentially compromised they brought in the legacies and the best of the academy ahead of their 18th birthdays. All their data completely classified and under her careful watch. The council had voted and she had been named the most capable to take the lead.

They needed their people to be safe. The terrorists had already targeted a number of them and they had no choice but to send some of their best into hiding. The records containing data on all known field agents. Although Alexandria was known to the terrorists, Lexa was not and the last time she had been seen by the group was when she was 8. Plus, as Command she wouldn’t be out in the field much anyway and as a previously known entity they’d never suspect her of being the one in charge.

Now they just needed as many agents as they could get as unknown as possible to infiltrate the Mountain, the headquarters of the Mountain Men’s current base, and wipe all their information as well as detect weak points and identify remaining members so they could finally be taken down. Clarke Griffin was the least known and best trained person for the job. Even Lexa had to agree. Despite being a legacy no one really knew her or what she looked like besides her parents, one of which was dead, and Wells. Lexa could briefly recall meeting her twice when they were younger and seeing her at training with the legacies many years ago but that was another time.

She sighed and spoke aloud, “Guess we’ll just have to present this the right way.”

If only that were easier said than done.

 

\--

 

Clarke had finally acquired a good routine. On mornings she would either grab some cereal or a PB and J sandwich for breakfast or, if she was running late she could easily pass by the student run bakery and pick up a latte and a muffin or a bagel.

Now normally she’d just brush her paranoia off. Let it slide. But her instincts were screaming at her that she was being watched. From the moment she woke up with Echo in the room to now, a few minutes before lunch, sitting in her Biology lecture. Looking around she noticed a few days ago that her roommate also took Bio 101. Echo had said she was majoring in Criminology and she happened to have this same course at the same time. At first Clarke was glad for the familiar face even though a nagging feeling in her head kept telling her to be cautious around the brunette.

As soon as class was done Clarke made sure she was the first out the door. Ignoring the café area she walked quickly forward, randomly turning at intervals, the feeling of being watched never left her causing the hairs on the back of her neck to raise. Thinking quickly she ducked into the next alley and blended into the shadows. Straining her ears she barely heard a woman say, “Yea got it.” Before turning into her alley, a phone at her ear. She was a brunette, probably latino descent about 5 foot 6" in height, wearing a red leather jacket over a black t-shirt, jeans and black boots. Hair in a ponytail. She saw confusion enter the girl’s eyes as she subtly looked around and knew exactly why the girl seemed so confused.

Slipping the gun from her bag she rest the bag down and pulled the hood up on her jacket.

“The bird’s gone.........No like literally there’s no trace-“

Hearing the click of the safety on Clarke's gun the girl immediately stopped talking

“Now I’m sure you have a perfectly logical reason for why you've been following me for basically a mile and pretending to talk into a cell phone that’s turned off despite the wire by your ear, so, I better start hearing some good logic real soon.” Clarke’s cold unemotional voice said clearly, “preferably before your blood ends up staining my favorite sweater.”

Raven put her hands up calmly and turned to face Clarke chin raised in defiance.

“I highly suggest you begin by dropping your weapons. All of them.”

Raven looked skywards reigning in her annoyance. She was one of the best trained and by far smartest agents in her year. How the hell did this girl get behind her?

She took her gun from her jeans, unhooked 2 daggers from her sleeves and pulled another from her boot. Obviously this Clarke person was better than whatever Wells had briefed them on.

Clarke raised her eyebrows at her, “And the one in your pocket.” Sighing the brunette threw down the tiny scalpel in her right pocket. She was officially unarmed.

“Look I know this may seem strange but you can trust me.” She reached slowly into her back pocket and produced her Ark badge. That had been her first and only mistake before Clarke’s enraged yell and tackle had her on the ground faster than she could blink and her gun had effectively clocked her leaving her out cold. Clarke grabbed the badge reading Agent Stark.

Turning around at running footsteps Clarke came face to face with her roommate.

“Echo?” The only way for Echo to be here so far from campus and the other food stores, in this exact alley is if she too followed her from the biology lecture. She was never doubting her paranoia again.

Seeing the blonde’s face morph from confusion to rage in a second was enough to have the younger girl back tracking, “Wait Clarke please this isn’t what you-“

“Like hell it isn’t what I think!” She practically snarled.

“Look I don’t wanna hurt you Clarke.” She said raising her hands above her head, “Oh I’m sure, just a band of agents following me for no reason than to talk.” Clarke replied sarcastically. She moved aside letting the girl see her fellow agent down for the count.

“What the hell Griffin!? If you hurt her I swear-!”

“You’ll what, hurt me? Trust me you can’t do much worse than what your damn _Command_ already did!”

Clarke ran at her roommate…ex-roommate, who had just enough time to block the punch aimed at her face, staggering backwards at the strength behind the punch.

 _‘Holy shit did Wells get her strength wrong. That hurt like a mother fucker’_ Octavia thought.

She had to quickly readjust her footing seeing the blonde come at her with a roundhouse kick she dodged to the left and seeing her opening brought her right fist up to slam firmly into the blonde’s stomach. Her lean, hard, firm wall of muscular stomach. Clarke didn’t even flinch.

_‘Fuck.’_

“You’re kinda fast I’ll give you that.” Clarke said, the hint of a grin on her face.

Grabbing her hand with her own left one before Octavia could retract it she leaned in slightly, “But I’m faster.”

Pulling Octavia towards her using her still clenched fist Clarke kneed the other girl in the stomach and then brought both hands down on her back sending her sprawling on the ground. Octavia was suddenly very much pinned, her back and chest aching.

“No hard feelings but I’m gonna need a new roomie.” Was the last thing she heard before she too blacked out from a hard hit to her head.

 

\--

 

Lexa was pacing and pacing was never a good thing. Especially in such an enclosed space. After she had lost contact with both Raven and Octavia she decided the rest of the Elite Squad together had no chance of failing. Somehow she was wrong. Within a minute every one of her force was offline. Just what was Clarke Griffin capable of?

“Ma’am?” she heard the silent question and nodded. He was their last resort and she unfortunately didn’t want it to come to this but well. She had no other cards to play. Exiting the van parked near the alley where the others had tailed Clarke to and then subsequently disappeared in, the agent rounded his shoulders and stepped carefully and loudly towards the alley.

They were best friends once. Maybe the shock would at the very least be enough to let her hear them out.

“...Wells?” was the first thing he heard as he approached with his arms firmly above his head eyeing his childhood friend warily. He glanced around briefly seeing all the incapacitated members of his squad seemed to be breathing at least. The only blood he saw coming from Bellamy’s possibly broken nose. He just stood there in awe. This was not the same girl he had once known.

“Seriously!? OH COME ON! What, they think just because we were best friends that I wasn’t gonna fight you?”

He shrugged noncommittally…that was exactly what the plan was. But it seemed the girl was having none of that so he hurried to explain.

“I promise Clarke it isn’t like that! I would never hurt you. You know that!” He said pleading for her to see reason, unfortunately for him all she was currently seeing was red.

“You joined the Ark after everything they did to me? To my dad? It’s been four fucking years Wells.” Every sentence bringing her closer to him

“To think after everything she still has the gall. Command still has the audacity to send her agents after me.”

The situation was already out of hand and was verging on full blown catastrophe. Nodding once Wells switched his earpiece to speaker mode so Clarke could hear everything from it.

_**"Command isn't who you think it is."** _

Clarke tensed, that voice wasn't her mother, she only vaguely recognized it, “Why the fuck should I believe you?”

Lexa did the only thing she could think of, apparently she still had one card to play.

Herself.

Stepping out she ran into the alley with her hands up speaking hurriedly. She switched to their secret language in a split second decision. It was a language only known by a select few and was only developed in the last decade or so years but Lexa hoped this girl would know it. If her recent…demonstration was anything to go by her parents seemed to have shared a lot with her. Seeing as her mom was Command before herself she was sure the girl had to at least know some of what she was going to say.

 _“Because ai laik Hedon, we are not here to hurt you Clarke.”_ She said lowering her voice and her hands, _“We’re here to recruit you and catch the real people who leaked that information years ago.”_

That gave the advancing blonde pause. She looked carefully between Wells and the woman before her. She could see no insincerity in their eyes, the woman seemed to be carefully indifferent though a softness in her eyes gave way her honesty. And Wells…well he looked like he was terrified of his former friend but there was some pride in his eyes too. Still something didn’t add up. And this girl seemed familiar, maybe it was her eyes… Searching her memory she responded.

_“Since when does Command come out into the field? Last I checked Command is usually a coward who stands safely behind their monitors while their agents go out and do the dirty work for them.”_

The blonde responded fluently. Clarke’s hip was cocked and her gun lowered in a stance of mock relaxation, but both agents knew she would pounce on them without a moments’ notice if she felt threatened. Especially if the bodies around her were any indication. Not that Lexa thought this girl could ever beat her, but she was not inclined to underestimate her as she’s sure some of her team did.

_“It’s true that when one is a leader they must look into the eyes of their soldiers and say, go die for me, but I find this to be meaningless if the leader isn’t prepared to also make the necessary sacrifices for the good of their people. You’ll find I’m not like most previous Commands. It’s one of the reasons I was chosen.”_

Clarke lightly huffed, _“I imagine those must have been some pretty good reasons, because I’m guessing it’s safe to say that you’re the youngest Command that ever was.”_

Wells had to smirk at that, somewhere in there was the same old snarky ass Clarke. Lexa sent a pointed glare his way but otherwise stayed silent.

 _“Look.”_ Lexa began, _“I promise to explain everything better in a more controlled environment. I would appreciate if you’d come with us before we draw too much attention.”_ Now that she thought about it, it was an odd sight. People continued down the sidewalks without a care in the world. It’s almost like they didn’t even see the blonde teen who casually happened to have a gun and the litter of bodies behind her. At the sound of the safety being clicked off she returned her attention back to said blonde and cursed her lack of attentiveness.

Wells had instinctive positioned himself between his friend and his leader. He didn’t think Clarke would do anything rash…at least the old Clarke wouldn’t.

 _“Don’t worry, I just have one question._ What happens if I say no?” She asked calmly switching back to English, gun once again raised

“That is your prerogative certainly but-“ Lexa began only to get cut off by a motion in her periphery.

“CLINT NO!” Wells rushed towards her and Clarke barely had any time as 2 shots rang out. She had twisted so the shot embedded itself in her right arm rather than her chest. The other in her leg. Her blood ran cold and she felt strength leave the right side of her body as she collapsed forward onto her left knee. Before her skull could hit the cement warm arms enveloped her.

Expecting to see her best friend’s face she was confused when her stormy blue met piercing green. Rolling her head to the side she saw Wells taking the weird gun from the one he called Clint before she registered that she wasn’t bleeding

“These aren’t normal _fucking_ _bullets_ are they?” She said to no one in particular noticing then that some of the other agents were unsteadily rising to their feet. With one last look at her old friend she managed to mutter one last, “Fuck you Jaha.” Before everything once again went dark.

Fuck the Jahas

And fuck déjà fucking vu

 

\--

 

 Command was swearing. Loudly. It was a first for many of them. Miller and Lincoln were actually the only ones on her team who had ever heard her swear before. Anya and Indra were surprised to say the least, it was very rare for Lexa to ever get this worked up.

“The _fucking_ hell is wrong with you, you insubordinate little twat.” The fact that she still not once raised her voice was extremely unsettling. Agent Murphy may never forget this day.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself? Anything at all?” she glared never once easing her eyes away from his downturned ones.

“I saw the squad down, a gun pointing at my Command's head. I did what I thought was right to protect everyone. I’m sorry.” He said eyes downturned

Lexa sighed, oh she knew exactly what it must have looked like from his perspective but still she was in clear view of him and she shook her head. Maybe he thought she was being threatened or he simply didn’t care about the order at the time but he had disobeyed regardless. Still he was just trying to protect his Command. She couldn’t fully fault him for that.

One room over Clarke slowly became more aware of her surroundings. Keeping her eyes closed and her heartbeat steady she took stock of her body. Her arm and leg were bandaged so that was good news. They wouldn’t patch up someone they were going to kill. Probably meant the woman was telling the truth and she may have slightly overreacted with the other agents. Granted she could have killed them instead. Straining her ears she caught tiny bits of a conversation not too far away but the voices were low. Maneuvering her tongue she found the controls for the device in her ear hidden in one of her tooth ‘cavities’ and adjusted the volume.

**_“Do you have any idea what I would have to do to you if that was a direct order agent?”_ **

**_*static*_ **

**_“Fine you can leave, just be thankful you only used Raven’s fucking icers and not actual bullets. And you better pray she doesn’t back out because of this. We need her.”_ **

**_“Yes Command, thank you.”_ **

She also heard a door closing and multiple footsteps go past her room before it was silent. It did help to have a dad in engineering. He was probably the only one who thought to disguise a hearing aid as a way to not only enhance her hearing’s range significantly but it also acted as a built in communication device that he had taught her to tune to any incoming frequency. The controls for which were hidden in the tooth of one of her few childhood cavities. It was really just a tiny ridged knob that clicked at every slight turn. Hold it down for 5 seconds to switch between hearing aid and radio comms. Turn to increase or decrease the hearing range as an aid or to change frequencies as a radio. It took her a while but she was finally able to track clicks well enough to tap into different frequencies.

Registering the bright light behind her eyelids and the smell of general cleanliness she guessed she was in one of the private rooms located off the agent ward where she had spent many late nights with her mother. She almost jumped at the sound of the door handle turning somehow missing the pad of footsteps to warn her that someone had approached her room. The wind of the opening door was the only warning she got that someone was in fact in her room with her. Then she heard a sigh and heard a chair scrape figuring the person was now seated beside her.

Clarke could practically feel the other person’s eyes boring into her skull. Only a few minutes of silence had passed.

“You know it’s rude to feign unconsciousness Ms. Griffin.” Clarke had to roll her eyes. Of course Command would see through her ploy.

She sat up with a grunt leaning on her uninjured left hand to glare at the woman sitting beside her.

“Yea well it’s also pretty rude to stare and you know, shoot people. Stalking people also tends to be seen as rude in most cultures.” She said meeting the cold eyes in front of her. Eyes that seemed to soften under her glare, but never lost their power.

Losing some of the edge she continued, “And you can drop the formalities Command, it’s Clarke not Ms. Griffin.”

Lexa nodded a small smile on her lips, “Well if we’re dropping the formalities then you can call me-

“Alexandria…I remember.” Lexa looked surprised

“Not many people do and we only ever properly met twice.” A questioning note at the end of her sentence

Clarke only shrugged her shoulder, “It’s not every day you meet someone with such strikingly, sad eyes.” She said pointedly holding eye contact with the other woman.

“The same could be said for you. But I don’t go by that name anymore at all and would rather it not be used, especially outside of this compound. I’m Lexa now.”

“Lexa huh, so your usual nickname. Not much of a code name is it?” She grunted raising her body into a sitting position. Seeing Lexa move to help her she waved her away but the brunette looked skeptical and placed a tentative hand on her shoulder.

“When you are believed to be dead, code names don’t tend to matter. You should be careful, I doubt the drug is fully out of your system.”

Recalling what she listened in on Clarke responded, “Yea I’m gonna guess that’s due to whatever the hell agent…Clint was it? Shot me with.”

“Yes agent Clint in the field or rather agent Murphy. I apologize on his behalf that was definitely not how I wanted our first meeting to go.”

“Oh? And how exactly had you planned for the meeting to go?”

Clarke turned her body as much as possible to face Lexa both eyebrows arched, “I mean I’m just trying to understand what you thought would happen after Stark tailed me for who knows how long. Were her orders to knock me out quietly or something and bring me back to base? Or was she just waiting for me to stop so she could approach me and chat? I’m guessing the former to be correct because your first two agents seemed a bit hesitant to fight.”

Lexa inclined her head, this girl was good, she had incapacitated almost her entire squad and deduced her plan rather easily. The confidence in her voice never wavering.

“Believe me I would not have brought you in against your will. The one you call Stark, agent Reyes’ orders, were to talk and if you seemed unwilling then Octavia, the real name of the agent posing as your roommate, would approach if it seemed like you needed calming down. Wells was to be a last resort. We never imagined you to be so skilled or to have such high level of technology.”

A hint of surprise appeared in her blue eyes before she could put her mask back in place.

“Yes, we know all about the cloaking properties on your jacket and in your bag. The full body scan revealed the electronics. I was rather curious as to why no civilians seemed frightened by our confrontation in broad daylight, even if the alley was a bit away from the main sidewalk. Reyes and agent Green, a member of my tech team, were quite impressed and that’s saying something. Also, I assume there is more to the hearing-aid we saw embedded in your ear due to the fact that you having no record of auditory problems.”

Clarke didn’t trust the woman she had met before, not by a long shot, but if they scanned her then she doubted it would be a good idea to hide much from her.

“Hmm, well you have my dad to thank for both of those prototypes. Don’t suppose you’ll tell me what a fucking icer is?”

“Icer, it’s pronounced ice-er”

They spent the next few minutes discussing the icer and the tech found on Clarke as well as the real reason why she was approached to begin with.

“So you need me, what…because of my anonymity? I can approach these Mountain Men in ways your team can’t.”

“Exactly, and if we can infiltrate and wipe their drive of the information I can start reinstating the older agents back into the field and they can all get back to doing their jobs. They have our force crippled. Almost all of the more experienced agents are in hiding. If they’re able to reproduce and spread that intel then those agents and all their loved ones will be in danger.”

“And if I…accept…what will be in it for me? What will I have to do to prepare for the op?”

“We’re hoping, if all goes as planned to clear your father’s name. By wiping their entire system we should be able to find the true mole and bring them to justice. So?”

By now Clarke could easily sit up without leaning on her pillows and the pain in her arm and leg were a dull throb, what Lexa was offering sounded appealing. She’d be able to avenge her father and clear other agents back into the field. It was what was best for her country no matter how much she deplored an organization that would make one turn on a husband of almost 2 decades.

“I’ll tell you what I’ll think about it. Ok?” she replied truthfully.

“That’s all I ask.” Lexa put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She noticed Clarke’s sudden pensive stare and was about to ask her what was wrong but the blonde shushed her. Command was surprised, she guessed there was a first for everything.

**_“You really think she’ll help us?”_ **

**_“All I know is I don’t ever want to be on the receiving end of that left hook again. Blondie hits HARD.”_ **

**_“Psh we could take her. She just got us by surprise is all.”_ **

**_“Yea O, she got every single one of us by surprise. Even the 3 boys that jumped her together.”_ **

“We got 2 approaching, females. One sounds like my old-“

“Hey roomie! No hard feelings about the whole secretly being an agent thing right?”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mac: Ok so real quick Jay had a death in the family really recently but she gave me permission to post what she had done on her behalf cause she's like sad and i have no idea when she'll get back to updating. This is all her writing though just fyi, all i did was copy, paste


	3. Something Ending With L(exa)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I spy with my little eyes...the fall of Mount Weather

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys don't hate me too terribly for this

“So, don’t suppose I could get my stuff back now?” Clarke questioned once Octavia and Raven were herded away by Lexa’s scathing glare

Lexa looked to her, turning from the hole she was boring into the door the two agents had just vacated through

“Oh of course. Are you feeling well enough to be moved to a room we have prepared? There should be a wheelchair or perhaps we can roll your bed through the door, although it may be a tight fit and-“

Clarke placed her hand up to stop the girl before she began rambling, “I should be fine walking, I feel a lot better than when I first woke up.”

She said moving to swing her legs around and testing the weight on her feet. Satisfied, her legs would hold she took a few tentative steps forward and looked up to reassure Lexa

“See all-“ She stopped short noticing how close Lexa had come towards her, and that the brunette’s hand was extended slightly, as if preparing to catch her should she need it. Intense, worried green eyes met surprised and amused blue.

“All good.”

Lexa quirked an eye in confusion, “The average agent needs 20 hours to recover from one icer shot, let alone two...”

Clarke rolled her shoulder inspecting it and tensed the muscles around where she was hit, she did feel extremely sore on the side where she was shot but decided it was bearable. She didn’t want to spend any longer than was necessary in the medical area that held way too many memories of her mother, which of course led to thoughts of her father as well.

Feeling the need to explain this Clarke decided to share some of her lesser known history, “My father was a bio-engineering genius as you should know. So was his father before him. While I doubt he ever did experiments on me, I wouldn’t put it past grandpa. He, uh, wasn’t the most moral scientist in his field. Honestly it wouldn’t surprise me if something was passed down from my dad to me.”

Lexa inclined her head in understanding and they both made their way out the medical wing, albeit slowly. Clarke noted with dissatisfaction that she carried a slight limp, but it was nothing she couldn’t endure. Plus Lexa seemed pretty willing to catch her should she fall, standing only mere inches away, the worry never completely leaving her eyes despite her stoic expression.

Wanting a distraction from her increasing pains she asked, “How about you tell me some more about your plans to take down the Mountain.”

 

\--

 

This was what she had gathered from her talks with Command so far.

As it was, any attempt to copy the information off of the external hard drive it was stored on would end up corrupting all the software on the computer used rendering it useless as an empty shell, it was honestly an ingenious work of programming that Sinclair, Monty and Raven had perfected before the two then teens were even agents.

The hard drive was currently being held inside of the Mountain Men’s base of operations which Fox, Harper, Monroe, Miller, and Lincoln had located in their last mission. While successful the team had all been injured Fox and Monroe had sustained wounds that were almost fatal. They soon realized the only reason the agents all almost died during the op was because the Mountain Men’s security cameras had recognized previously instated, Lincoln, Monroe and Miller who were official agents and therefore listed on the stolen USB.

Lexa had hoped that with Miller and Lincoln being lesser known within the Ark, due to their positions by the previous Command’s side, that this would not have been a problem. She soon learned this was not to be the case. That op was about 5 months ago and the team had managed to get enough surveillance in place to ensure if the bases moved they would be the first to know. Thankfully they noted that all their enemies did was increase security. They had no more little holes left to hide in.

The Ark had suspected as much, it seemed like that was the main reason The Mountain Men and their allies had gone on a suicide mission to retrieve the hard drive in the first place. The Ark had finally backed them into a corner. The morning after it was stolen Jaha and the Ark council had entered their level of the base to find bodies strewn everywhere. To unrecognized and unwelcome visitors the Ark security system was a thing of mass destruction, despite this it was still stolen and hence the mind games began. After all, they would have needed some help to get to the top level of the Ark in the first place and that only left one option.

A mole. Someone with high enough access to grant them clearance through to the secret elevator but not enough clearance to completely turn off the security systems set in place that recognized intruders. Someone who knew the layout of their base and the exact position of the hard drive.

Of course this greatly reduced the number of suspects after all besides Command there was only the members of the council itself and their trusted guards to blame.

Even before it was taken a mole was suspected, after the murder of several agents and their loved ones in what seemed like inexplicable accidents over the last 3 years including Costia. Friendships were strained. What seemed like three old friends catching the game over by the Griffin’s house turned into Sinclair and Kane monitoring their high school best friend who Jaha and the investigative committee had thought was the only other person that could have possibly helped those terrorists.  

It should have been impossible to steal the hard drive, yet somehow, despite the body count, some of their better security measures were still bypassed and others had been downright disabled the night it was taken. This had narrowed down their suspicions significantly to those in engineering and technology with that level of clearance and technical expertise ergo Jake and Sinclair. Seeing as Sinclair had been out of the country taking Raven to a conference that only left one other person.

Of course Clarke could see their logic but that didn’t help lessen the sting of pain and betrayal she felt, the scar from the bullet that almost ended her life served as a constant reminder that a few words without any hard evidence was enough to tear apart a decade long marriage and the even longer friendships between Jake Griffin, Sinclair, Marcus Kane and her godfather Thelonious Jaha.

Clarke would be given 3 months for evaluation, briefing and training before the mission was to take place. This would also allow Monty and Raven the time necessary to build the USB they needed to copy, export and wipe all of the Mountain Men's files.

 

As soon as Clarke had agreed and reassured Lexa she had no lingering pain she went to work under Anya and Indra. Those next 3 weeks were spent exclusively training her…well…it was more like evaluating her to see what skills she didn’t already have for the mission. There really wasn’t much to teach her in the strength and hand to hand areas. And with her jacket she could almost completely disappear. Still, on the off chance it didn’t work for whatever reason they had dedicated some time to ensuring her stealth skills were high enough for the op.

 

\--

 

“How’re her results looking?” Anya’s tensed muscles were the only indication that Lexa had actually been able to sneak up on her old mentor. She hid her smirk well.

Anya just tilted her chin up to the observation window she and Lexa were currently standing in front of. It was very much like a normal police interrogation room with a one way mirror and controllable audio devices that could be modified to either let the observers hear what was happening in the room or to let the observers speak to those in the room via microphone. The only differences were that this room was made of the 30 feet of cement on either side and the 30 foot thick glass had magnification properties to make it seem like the people in the room were right in front of them.

Anya handed her a folder filled with Clarke’s statistics so far and said, “See for yourself.”

In a corner of the room Clarke was currently in an all-out sprint on a reinforced treadmill. Lexa glimpsed the speed setting and almost gawked. Almost

“Is the monitor broken?”

Anya shook her head still watching the blonde who was covered in sweat but still had surprisingly even breaths, “Nope she’s been maintaining that speed for 29 minutes now.” Lexa couldn’t seem to take her eyes away.

Indra who was observing the blonde from inside the room gave her the ok to stop. Vaulting off the side of the machine Clarke made her way over to the exact place on her side of the wall where the camouflaged two way mirror should be and seemed to stare directly into Lexa’s eyes. She tapped the glass twice. Lexa and Anya both shared a look before Anya turned on the internal microphones

Smirking Clarke spoke, “Didn’t we already discuss your rude staring habits Command?”

Lexa’s eyebrows flew up and Anya couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. Indra only barely hid her smile while muttering to Clarke to either take a water break or get back to testing.

Lexa turned and began walking back down the hallway Anya in tow, “She has a point you know, you do seem very drawn to her.” Lexa turned to her as if affirming what she just said,

“She’s got quite a bit of sass I’ll give her that.”

Anya grinned, “Yes she does, and you like that.” She turned giving her a sideways glance and a wink

Lexa sighed in exasperation “Honestly you’re being childish.”

“...but you’re not denying it.”

“Nor affirming it Anya.” She said with narrowed eyes. Of course Anya would tease her about the pretty blonde before giving actual input on how to proceed with Clarke’s training regiment

Suddenly the comm link on her watch glowed showing Indra’s ID and Anya answered,

“Something wrong already Indra? We just left you.”

She heard a sigh before Indra responded

**_“Clarke thought she should inform you that, yes she has been known to sass and that you two are still very much within range of her hearing device.”_ **

The two women looked down surprised, Anya sporting a small grin, “Copy that.”

 

\--

 

Every moment not spent with the senior agents training was spent with Lexa going over strategies and back up plans. Because of her already advanced expertise there was very little for Indra and Anya to actually do besides maybe increase her stamina and get her to practice different styles of martial arts for the next 2 weeks.

 This third week of preparation would be spent getting familiar with the members of Lexa’s squad who would back her up, learning how to use the additional technology Raven and Monty had gathered and finally meeting with Lexa in front of the Ark council.

 Today she was ‘bonding’ with the females of the squad. Octavia had immediately suggested some friendly wrestling thinking she could get some payback for their earlier…tussle.

“Uuugghhhh, one more round, best of 9.” Raven shook her head and Monroe, who had only recently recovered and returned to active duty, fought to hold back laughs at the other girl’s expense.

“Come on O, this is getting pathetic, even for you.” Raven said from the side bench where she, Anya and Monroe were currently reclining having already gone against the blonde and lost.

Refusing Clarke’s hand up Octavia stumbled back to her feet. Clarke just shrugged at her stubbornness and rolled her shoulders prepared to go again. Octavia’s shirt had been drenched in sweat a while ago and both girls had stripped to their training bras.

“I believe Raven is right Octavia. While it’s true we should always strive to improve, every agent should still know and respect their limits.”

Surprised heads turned to look at Lexa who had just stepped into the training room shadowed by Ryder. Sweat glistened on her skin a tell-tale sign that she had just finished her own exercise routine. She seemed to be holding her side as if in pain, maybe she had worked a bit too hard and pulled something. Her tank top clung to her skin as she brought a water bottle to her lips before continuing, “Perhaps someone else should challenge Clarke.”

Octavia hung her head a grumbled, “Yeah challenge, as if! She’s already beaten all of us. I swear she’s some kind of super fighting machine.”

Clarke crossed her arms over her chest and smirked, “Maybe next time roomie.” She said in a mocking tone

Lexa cocked her eyebrow, “Mockery is not the product of a strong mind Clarke.” The other agents behind her groaned, Anya just grinned at her.

Ignoring them she walked closer to the training mats, “Maybe someone should take you down a peg or two.”

Clarke raised both eyes in surprise at the challenge, “Oh? The great Command would honor me with her presence in a sparring match?”

Lexa just continued walking until her feet hit the training mats eyes locked with the girl In front of her.

“First one to concede loses.”

The atmosphere was almost palpable with tension, what kind no one in the room could say, as both girls subtly shifted into relaxed stances. Raven, Octavia and Monroe looked surprised but Anya knew that under their leaning poses were muscles ripped and ready to pounce if the way their eyes were focused were anything to go by.

“Shit this is intense.” Octavia whispered under her breath

“Shof op Octavia.” Both Raven and Monroe reprimanded.

That was when Clarke lunged for Lexa’s chest but then feigned lower going for her feet instead. She moved faster than the other girls had seen yet. Anya recognized it when they were testing the very limits of her strength. She wasn’t holding back and she soon saw that neither was Lexa.

Lexa jumped the moment she recognized the girl’s plan using her right arm to push off Clarke’s exposed back in an attempt to flip over her and at the same time push the blonde to the floor. What Lexa did not expect was the strength in Clarke’s back.

Clarke had correctly anticipated Lexa’s dodge to her lunge, and as soon as she felt the brunette’s hand land on her back, she twisted her shoulders, grabbing the girl’s arm with her left hand and for a fraction of a second their eyes met again, Clarke’s smiling in genuine happiness, before she rolled forward intending to make Lexa belly flop onto the mat. The hard fall only broken by Lexa bending her knees underneath her.

They were both on the ground in front of each other breathing steadily before they simultaneously jumped to their feet and began exchanging blows.

The fight seemed to go on for hours but it was only 19 minutes and neither party was backing down. For every punch Lexa let fly, Clarke either blocked or dodged and tried to return with one of her own which was usually deflected before being followed up by a nicely timed kick. And the cycle would continue.

The other agents could do nothing but stare in awe.

While Clarke was some kind of prodigy in the making she still had a limited knowledge of most fighting styles which was where Lexa succeeded in keeping up with her switching between stances fluidly without a moment’s hesitation.

At one point during a round house kick Clarke had managed to get Lexa to stumble. She quickly recovered but found the blonde trapping her arms behind her back and pushing her into the nearest wall. She went along with it and just a few feet from the wall shifted her weight backwards and ran up the wall before pushing off. The momentum was enough to get Clarke to release her arms and she was able to land a solid punch into the blonde’s side. Clarke flinched, that would definitely bruise.

After a while Clarke decided to exploit Lexa’s weakness, she seemed to be favoring her left side despite being right handed. She had noticed it since the girl walked in the room. It was the opening Clarke knew she needed. She dodged a set of jabs and shifting her weight she put all her power behind her next punch.

Her only mistake but it was enough. Thinking the side to be weakened by injury Clarke was shocked when Lexa captured her right arm, Clarke's weaker arm, in a hold between her elbow and knee and proceeded to fall backwards on the mat while the blonde was shocked, trapping her in a choke hold with her legs around the blonde’s neck while her arm remained stretched in Lexa’s own, immobile.

“You-you faked it.” Realization dawning on her face, “From the moment you walked into the room.” Lexa only gave a squeeze to Clarke’s arm as her answer.

Clarke hung her head back in defeat after realizing Lexa’s hold was absolute unless she wanted to seriously injure them both.

“I concede _Hedon_. You win.”

Lexa rolled off her and held out a hand which Clarke gladly took. Both girls smiled softly at each other and Lexa moved to clasp her forearm. Clarke’s eyes widened remembering the act as a sign of great respect when initiated by Command.

“Well fought Clarke.” Lexa said softly, just loud enough for the blonde to hear

Clarke could feel herself sporting a full on grin but she couldn’t be bothered to diminish it, “Thank you Command, same to you.”

The two stayed clasping arms and staring into each other’s eyes until Octavia, who seemed to finally emerge from the stunned silence that had enveloped the agents that watched the fight, stumbled over and hopped onto Clarke’s back

“Way to go roomie! No one’s ever gone toe to toe with Command like that!” The shock of the weight on her back and the exclamation had the two girls separating, light blushes adorning their cheeks. Octavia was too busy spewing about their awesomeness to notice and Monroe wrote it off as exertion but Anya and Raven shared a private glance noting the heart eyes Lexa was throwing Clarke’s way.

Oh this would be interesting.

 

\--

 

The next few weeks saw Lexa becoming increasingly irritated at the antics of her best friend and mentor. She couldn’t go a few minutes in their presence without some kind of teasing remark about Clarke and the amount of time they had been spending together. Of course, Lexa had to be sure that Clarke was up to the task and only sought to make her time in the Ark comfortable but whenever she tried explaining this she was only met with smirks, knowing glances and a few imaginative sexual innuendos on Raven’s part.

“So how’s the tonsil hockey coming?”

“You got Clarke wanting to roll in your D yet? Or would you roll in hers. Anya who do you think would wear the pants in that relationship?”

Anya only smirked pointing out that neither of them had a D to speak of to which Raven said that technically they couldn’t be sure and of course Lexa replied that yes they could and proceeded to pull up Clarke’s birth certificate, noting she was born with female reproductive organs. Raven could only roll her eyes at the dork.

She had very recently begun quoting song lyrics and at times humming when in Lexa’s vicinity which was admittedly worse than the sex jokes. From more innocent songs,

“Take me down into your paradise, don’t be scared cause I’m your body type…got a taste of the cherry I just need to take a bite.”

To ones that seemed to relish in the opposite meaning of subtlety

“I get off on you, getting off on me-“

“Raven!”

“What? I’m just singing geez. You act as if my voice isn’t a gift from the gods themselves.”

Lexa went back to reviewing the schematics of Raven’s and Monty's USB when she heard the soft lyrics of cheerleader

“When I need motivation, my one solution is my queen cause she stays strong, yea yea, she is always in my corner right there when I want her all these other girls are tempting-“ Raven said pointing to herself, “but I’m empty when you’re gone.”

Lexa rolled her eyes at her friend’s antics. “I doubt Clarke would like to be referred to as my queen and she definitely would not like to be called my cheerleader.”

Raven just shot her a cheeky grin, “Who said anything about Clarke being your cheerleader? I was more thinking that you would be hers.”

“You would be whose?” Lexa had gone to argue with Raven but was abruptly stopped when Clarke walked into the engineer’s lab. She had feared for a moment that she had heard Raven’s teasing but after accidentally listening in on the beginning of Octavia and Lincoln’s night time activities…she remembered Clarke promising to keep the ear enhancement off when not needed. By her confused expression she guessed the girl stayed true to her word.

Lexa butt in before Raven could try to embarrass her further, “We were discussing the merits of me backing up Fox during her next mission out.” She knew she didn’t get away with the lie by the quirk of Clarke’s eyebrow but the blonde didn’t question it and turned to Raven,

“The others sent me to get you out of the lab for some actually _healthy_ food.”

Raven placed down what she was working on and wiped her hands on a nearby rag, “Yea sure thing, what about you Lexa?” she asked grinning mischievously at her, Clarke also looked to her and she could have sworn she seemed a bit hopeful, but if Raven’s look was anything to go by it would be safer if she took lunch in her office

“I still have a lot of work to do,” she said seeing the blonde’s face fall slightly, “but maybe I’ll join you for dinner instead.” Clarke’s smile returned full force and Lexa had to look away from the fake gagging motions Raven was making from behind the girl.

As they walked towards the door, Raven began singing again “She gives me love and affection, baby did I mention, you’re the only girl for me no I don’t need a next one.”

“Oh what song is that?” Clarke asked while opening the lab door, “Cheerleader by this guy from Jamaica, it’s pretty catchy.” Raven said lending Clarke one of her ear buds

“Speaking of cheerleaders you’ll never believe what Lexa did in high school.” Raven said shooting Lexa a look over her shoulder, and snickering at the answering glare. The closing door stopped her from hearing the rest of their conversation.

While it was true Lexa couldn’t deny the very real attraction between herself and Clarke neither had made moves to act on it. Lexa still had a very real feeling of vulnerability after losing both her parents and best friend at such a young age. Plus Clarke was her subordinate during her time as an agent of the Ark and Lexa didn’t want to abuse her position over her in any way.

 She couldn’t even be sure if Clarke was into girls. Sure Wells had included her coming out as bisexual in his report on her, but he hadn’t actually been aware of her being in any relationships with females. It was hard for her to make attachments as it was because of this although…hearing Clarke later that night belting out the lyrics to cheerleader in her sensual husky voice was almost her undoing.

 

\--

 

Seeing how well Clarke’s training was going it only made sense to decrease the preparation time they had initially planned. Clarke herself had brought the issue up while they were alone in her office

“The three months isn’t needed, and besides, didn’t Monty say the sooner we retrieve it the better? Based on the intel they’re already pretty close to cracking the code protecting the information on the drive.”

She said with her arms crossed casually leaning against Lexa’s desk while the brunette leader sat back in her chair thinking. “I agree, there’s no need to waste time redundantly, I’ll set a meeting with the council tomorrow, they are pretty set in their ways though it could take a bit of a demonstration to convince them.”

She said in reference to the blonde’s stellar evaluation results and her later progress in the training she was given

Clarke just nodded her acquaintance, “Sure, no problem.” She then looked to her father's watch, “Oh wow, I’ve been annoying you for a good three hours now, I’d better get out of your hair.”

Lexa smiled softly at her turning back to the reports in front of her, Clarke had come in earlier bored and in between talking she had allowed Clarke to voice input on certain unclassified missions and reports she had to go over. She was really quite helpful giving Lexa many new options and perspectives to approach certain situations.

She soon realized how much of a great leader Clarke could be if given the incentive. She was quick to reassure her of this, “Nonsense, if you were being a bother I would have told you Clarke. Your insight and ideas are very welcome, you were born for this Clarke, same as me.”

Clarke’s eyes widened at the praise and a bright smile lit her face.

“If you’re sure, then I’ll stay a while longer.”

 

\--

 

The next day was the board meeting and Lexa instantly saw her mistake the moment Clarke entered the room. It hadn’t even occurred to her that the very people directly responsible for the wrongful death of her father, were also in this very room. In fact it seemed as though Clarke hadn’t quite comprehended this either until an equally surprised voice uttered, “Clarke?”

Lexa saw the moment shock on the blonde’s face morphed into unbridled anger. She made her way quickly across the room and placed a hand on Clarke’s arm, the apology clear in her gaze but Clarke was staring meaningfully at four of the people in the room.

The three men that had headed the mission to kill her father, the men she once considered family, Sinclair and Jaha sat frozen in their seats while Marcus stood holding his arms up as if to placate and approach her. Finally her gaze landed on the ex Command before her, Abigail Griffin who was openly gaping at the knowledge that her daughter was the one they had recruited to get their hard drive back.

The other council members understanding the situation, chose to remain silent. Indra and Anya had moved to stand in the space between Clarke and the four senior council members, in the off chance that Clarke made an aggressive move they were fairly certain they could restrain her with Lexa’s help.

By now Clarke was physically shaking with anger and Lexa moved directly in front of her to try and cut off her line of sight.

Abby had come out of her shock and had risen to take steps towards her daughter that she hadn’t seen for 2-years but Clarke just shook her head closing her eyes. Clenching her fists she sprinted from the meeting room hearing Lexa calling her name but she wasn’t able to stop. She needed to get far away before she ended up murdering her own mother at the onslaught of her pent up feelings of rage and betrayal she had hoped was buried in those 2 years she took to grieve.

Kane went to comfort Abby who wore a forlorn expression and still had her hand outreached towards where her daughter left.

“How could you bring her in?” Her enraged voice came out directed towards Lexa who looked at her with a stony glare.

“The council signed off on this. You all agreed that an outside asset had to be brought In and authorized the mission saying, and I quote, ‘Do whatever is deemed necessary, the safety of more than our country is at stake.’ ” Abby glared back of her indignantly

“If I knew she was the asset I would have never approved this, she’s-“

“One of the overall strongest trained people I’ve ever met, her skills surpass even our best agents. She is the best person for this mission.”

Indra and Anya nodded at Abby’s questioning glance and she saw a spark of pride enter the older woman’s scrutiny.

Anya turned to Abby then, “I know you may not like it Councilor Griffin but this was the type of decision that needed to be made with our heads, not out hearts. I can assure you Command contemplated this very deeply before agreeing to bring Clarke in.”

Seeing Anya and Indra calm the others she outlined the shortened timeline which was voted on quickly, and excused herself from the rest of the proceedings, looking to check on Clarke. After all, they couldn’t exactly speed up the mission if the agent set to take it on had quit.

After searching the cafeteria, the rooms and the gym she finally found Clarke in deep thought staring into their indoor pool. She knew Clarke heard her approach by the tense and then relaxed set to her shoulders. She sat next to her at the pool edge, mimicking her by rolling up her pants legs.

They stayed for a few minutes in comfortable silence until Lexa noticed the angry tears welling up in Clarke’s eyes. She leaned and brought her hand to catch a tear before it fell. She could feel the blonde’s angry trembling beneath her fingers

“Truly Clarke, I am sorry for that. I was not thinking when I invited you to the council meeting. I know there is no excuse for-“

Clarke shushed her even while her hand still remained gently on her cheek, Lexa’s brain took a few minutes to register the lips that had latched greedily on to her own, a hint of salt from the tears accompanied the taste of mocha coffee and peaches and something else that was uniquely Clarke.

The moment it clicked she felt her hands encircling the girl’s waist and pulling her closer. Clarke shifted, biting the leader’s bottom lip and moving to straddle her with the momentary distraction. Feeling Clarke mount her was enough to jolt Lexa out of her sudden state of bliss. As right as this felt this was also, so very wrong. She peeled her lips away gently and looked up at the girl in her lap. Fighting the draw of her eyes to gaze upon the swollen lips that were so close and yet…

“This isn’t right.” Whether she was trying to convince the girl or herself was still unclear, Clarke’s eyes were blown wide, crying forgotten, and she was sure her own irises revealed her state of arousal as well.

“Clarke you’re hurt and angry, please let me help yo-“ She was cut off again, this time by more persistent lips and could not hold back a moan when she felt Clarke grind her hips down in an attempt to find friction.

She pulled back again but Clarke’s lips followed and grazed to her ear lobes, “If you want to help so badly, then stop. Talking. Start. Fucking”

 

\--

 

“You two need to just start fucking like god.” Lexa fought to keep the red tinting her ears at bay but Raven was the closest thing she currently had to a best friend. Nothing would really get past her but thankfully she was too bust hunched over her newest chemical invention she and Jasper had collaborated on to pay Lexa’s face any mind. Monty was still trying to finish the coding for the USB. She did however hear her choke on thin air and clear her throat.

“I have no idea what you’re talking-“

“Bullshit.” Raven supplied calmly, never talking her eyes off the tiny instruments she was using to test the recently finished invention. She was of course referring to the heated glance a certain blonde had exchanged with Lexa on her way out of Raven’s lab

Lexa raised a perfect brow knowing when Raven was convinced of something, especially something pertaining to Lexa’s innate disability to hide her feelings from her, there was no arguing the point.

“I mean you guys are making me aroused just in general, I’m pretty sure the girls have all been sporting lady boners and the guys have semi-hard ons constantly-“

“Ok Rae,”

“No but for real, you two are the definition of do me eyes-“

“Raven-“

“Seriously, after that council meeting last month it’s like you guys are walking sex hormones-

“Em pleni.” She could practically see the smirk on the young genius’ face, “Can we please just get to your progress report on this secret gadget you and Jasper have concocted, I do actually have some work to finish today.”

Raven finally stopped tinkering and straightened in front of, Lexa refusing to meet her eyes and gestured for her to take a closer look at her work table.

“Is that a pill?” Understanding her confusion Raven was quick to explain, “Well I never actually said it was a gadget. This is like the ultimate fail safe. I kind of got inspired from well…Costia.”

She noted the grave look on Lexa’s face as they recalled the letter the Mountain Men sent with her bloody clothes depicting the torture the poor girl had gone through. She may not have been the target but she still had valuable information and had fought the Mountain at every turn until her death.

“…what is it?” Lexa asked in a more composed voice than Raven had thought she would maintain at the news. In fact she expected a full blown flip out but Lexa for her part had seemed sad for but a moment before returning to her usual brand of stoicism.

Raven began thinking maybe she and Clarke _had_ been spending a bit more than the required time necessary together, but pushed that to the back of her mind. A question for another day

“Think of it as the plan B pill that no one really wants but all agents kind of need. If you remember our mission to apprehend the Azgedakru after we heard they were working with the Mountain…”

Command thought back on the 4 captured enemy agents, all found dead in their cells by morning. It was only thanks to their undercover agent, the actual agent Echo, that they were able to find and ambush them. Echo was also responsible for helping them find this final Mountain strong hold and was able to get an emergency message to Lincoln’s team at the last minute. Without it she was sure Monroe and the others would have died on that last mission.

 It had taken a few hours before Sinclair and Nyko had correctly identified the poison in their blood and found the fake tooth cavities that would have been just wide enough to fit the pill casings they had also found stuck in their throats. It wasn’t pretty but it was effective, they stopped the Ark from gathering any intel about their work with the Mountain, the perfect way to ensure they wouldn’t betray their leaders. Raven saw the understanding enter the other brunette’s eyes.

“Suicide pills.”

Raven nodded grimly, “Very high doses of concentrated poison, just one bite and it’ll start working on the blood stream instantly. Death should occur within next few seconds. But of course it isn’t tested or anything, however the simulations are very promising and I just figured-

“You figured,” Lexa said suddenly turning to her, “that you would purposefully keep this from me until you had finished it to the extent that I could see the logic behind it and therefore not shut it down before you had even begun.”

Raven nodded once again saying nothing, “Very well, keep me updated.”

She moved to return to her office but Raven’s voice stopped her, “There’s also this other pill I’m working on alone, and I know chemical engineering is nowhere near my expertise but-“

“Just tell me when you have it done Raven. That will be all.”

The engineer knew when to stop pushing and now was obviously a time to just take Lexa at her word, “Whatever you say boss.” She said followed by the accompanying swoosh of her lab doors.

When Lexa found her way to her office, Clarke was already firmly situated in her desk chair, toying with one of her pens.

She greeted her with a simple, “Clarke.”

“You seem tense.” Was the girl’s blunt reply. Despite their lack of actual communication in regards to their feelings Lexa could still feel her shoulders sag and her charade fall, a soft glow entering her eyes. Things with Clarke were, abundantly easy, she felt more open than she had in a long time even if it was a bit wrong of them. They were both consenting adults, and yes Lexa was her ‘boss’ but if Clarke felt worried or troubled by this fact she sure as hell hadn’t made it known. In fact she was the biggest supporter of this dance of theirs, whenever Lexa backed off or tried to talk herself out of it, the magic Griffin touch was usually enough to make her come begging for more.

Ignoring the turn her thoughts just took she leaned down to leave a soft peck on top of the blonde’s wavy curls, which Clarke returned with a shy smile of her own. Standing she gave Lexa’s arm a quick squeeze, her voice suddenly low, “Maybe you should take a break…I could help you relax?...” she trailed off suggestively

 

\--

 

She wasn’t sure when it got to the point where her touch burnt paths down her body and her eyes drew her in like a moth to the flame. Her body was riddled with the burns of her failure to stay away, yet every time she felt herself coming back for more. And how could she stop when her lungs were already past screaming for her to breathe through the ashes that filled her nostrils.

A finger came up to smooth her furrowed brow and she turned to face her…well her something, lover would have seemed fitting if they had actually talked about labeling this unstable thing they called a relationship. Clarke eyed her with a bit of concern but she reassured her with a small smile and a squeeze of their entangled fingers. Pressing a lingering kiss to her pouty lips.

She loved moments like this when words weren’t needed and they could understand each other with body language alone. Alas duty called and she was forced to extract her body from the enticing sight within her bed. Clarke whined for a second but otherwise remained silent as Lexa went about her morning ritual. They were only a month and 3 weeks into Clarke’s 3 month preparation.

It was unfortunate that her mood was decidedly brought down by news delivered by none other than one Abigail Griffin. It would have been awkward if Abby was still Command and Lexa was nothing more than the newest member of the Elite Squad, but thankfully that was not the case. I mean how would one go about telling their boss that they were screwing the daughter they hadn’t seen in 2 years? But anyway,

“Echo just managed to check in…they know about the plan to break in but thankfully they don’t have specifics as far as she can tell.”

She registered the older woman’s underlying concern straight away after all, it was now her concern as well. Clarke’s covert operation had just turned into a practical suicide mission. She impressed even herself when she managed to keep the strain out of her voice.

“What has the council decided?”

Abby looked at her frowning but otherwise showing no other outward discomfort, “They agreed to move up the mission. They voted on her going out in 2 weeks.” Abby lowered her head after delivering the news and Lexa’s grip on her chair had turned white knuckled.

“They?”

“Well naturally I voted for cancelling the mission outright.” Abby met her gaze then and Lexa realized where her own fiery blonde got it from, “I may be many things Alexandria but I am still a mother,” Lexa flinched at hearing her full name but Abby continued nonetheless, “I gave up everything for the Ark, for the sake of the mission. I dedicated my entire life to helping the organization, I sacrificed 23 years of my marriage and the love and trust of my only daughter for this place. I refuse to let Clarke suffer anymore for my actions.”

Sensing something more she decided to skirt the formalities, “What is it you really came here to tell me Abby?”

“I need you to assign me to Clarke’s op and let her go home. Please Command, you’re the only one who can.”

She looked pleadingly at the young brunette. It was times like this that Lexa felt the full brunt of the weight on her shoulders. She could potentially send a woman she had come to care for to an almost certain death or, she could lessen the possibility of the success of the mission thereby endangering their agents and their loved ones.

She found staring at the table to be the only way to articulate her thoughts. “Dr.Griffin I-…Clarke…”

Thankfully, or not, she was saved by the very person they were discussing as her door swung open and another irate Griffin woman appeared.

“Don’t suppose I get any say in this.”

 “I knew the risks when I accepted, I’m doing this mission.” Lexa agreed, her head in her hands, “You’re doing the mission.” Clarke kneeled in front of her propriety out the window. It took only a moment for Lexa to dismiss the forlorn mother with a wave of her hand and some gentle guidance from Miller to coax the doctor from the room. Her mother had left them not too long ago, locking the door behind her after noting the two women wouldn’t stop glaring any time soon.

Clarke coaxed her from behind her hands, “Don’t worry, Octavia said it herself, I’m like some kind of super spy. And they don’t know about our technology or any specifics. That’s stayed between, me you, Indra, Anya, Raven, Lincoln and Miller. By moving up the mission we should catch them unaware, regardless.”

Lexa nodded of course, everything she said made sense. But it didn’t ease her worry.

 Clarke brought her in for a lingering kiss to her cheek full of promises of things not said but definitely felt. “You know you’re kind of cute when you’re worried.”

That got a smirk from the brunette, “Only kind of?”

 

\--

 

It was the worst news she could have received. She hadn’t made it in this morning and Lexa automatically feared the worst. Raven had often teased her for being a pessimist but in this case she was in fact correct. Anya had been taken by The Mountain and in an emergency meeting the op was moved up to today. In fact, Clarke was gearing up in front of her while she stood frozen in the mission control room, by the communications console.

It should have been simple, Lincoln and Octavia were purely there for transportation and back up purposes. They would drop off Clarke and she would complete the main objective, wiping their files using a new mobile virus Monty had created. It would delete absolutely everything leaving the base an empty husk equipment. Then a special surge of an EMP would turn off all power in a 4 mile radius.

If she could Clarke would use the few minutes needed to install the virus in their central computer, to search for Anya using the unfinished schematics Echo had gotten for them.

Clarke had already entered through the ventilation system and located the computer, killing or incapacitating all individuals inside confirming that they had indeed caught the Mountain Men by surprise. Or at least that was what they thought.

As soon as she had located Anya in the holding cells 2 levels down they were surrounded. Lincoln barely had time to warn them of the enclosing heat signatures the jet radar picked up before Clarke and Anya were fighting their way through the bodies and back to the central computer area where hopefully the virus would at least be halfway installed.

They were both worse for wear, Anya limping from a gunshot she took to her leg.

A few members of the Mountain had seen them escape down the narrow halls and threw grenades. They dove but the building itself wasn’t so lucky. The pillar breaking and debris from the roof above them falling.

Anya was trapped, her right forearm lodged firmly under the glass light fixture. She could practically feel the glass digging into her skin but did her best not to scream out in agony.

“Go you idiot! Leave before two die here instead of one.” Clarke looked her straight in the eye and then looked over her shoulder in alarm. Fearing the worse Anya also looked behind them only to later let out a blood curling yell. As soon as she turned Clarke had used her favorite but impractical katana to cut Anya’s arm off while her attention was unknowingly diverted. The blood curling scream the team members heard through Clarke’s comm link still haunted a few of them. She wrapped her arm up in the material from her shirt as best she could but knew without proper treatment it would be for naught.

She insisted on being left behind but Clarke was having none of that, instead opting to get her through her planned escape route, an acid explosion through the back wall, strong enough to make a large hole for her to crawl through. Anya had insisted Clarke come with her, but there would be no point to the mission if she didn’t finish the final installation of the virus. If it wasn’t so intricate then the final click of the enter button wouldn’t have been necessary but they were planning on having at least two more weeks to perfect it and this was the best they could do in the time given.

 ** _“Clarke there are at least 19 people in coming from the north hallway. Double back and to the right, should only be 3 people. Take the back way to the lab, over.”_** Lincoln’s voice said over the comm link she picked up from her hearing aid.

**_“Roger that, now you and eagel 1 can vacate the vicinity. I’ve got it from here and agent Woods needs medical, over.”_ **

**_“No way in hell we’re leaving you behind roomie. Just hurry and finish up, over.”_ **

Lexa watched the red dot indicating Clarke’s position on their holographic map, moving as directed. Then she noticed the blinking light signaling someone was calling on her private communication line. She let Indra take over observing the mission when she realized it was Clarke calling her

**_“It’s unlikely I’m making it out of this.”_ **

Lexa paused unable to form coherent sentences

**_“Lex…I-. I need you to order them to leave. Lexa please.”_ **

She heard the sounds of a struggle and Clarke’s pained grunt before her steady running resumed

“Clarke? Come in, Clarke!”

**_“Fine, fine just those three guys no big. Lexa order them back to the Ark. Please. I can’t worry about ending the mission and making sure they aren’t shot down. The Mountain’s sensors would have detected them when they picked up Anya. It’s only a matter of time before they get shot down.”_ **

“…Ok I’ll do it.”

**_“Thank you Lex.”_ **

She walked back in and motioned Indra away, picking up her open mic, “Eagel 1 return to base, over.”

**_“What?-“_ **

**_“But Command surely-“_ **

“That was a direct order eagel 1. Return. Now. Command out.”

She stepped away to her desk letting Indra oversee their escape and placed her comm link back to Clarke’s frequency

“Clarke.”             

**_“Leksa…”_ **

Gunshots rang out. Lexa could hear every excruciating second pass by. Had Clarke been cut off?

“Yes? Clarke!?”

**_*static*_ **

**_"The virus is uploaded...T_** **_ell agent Stark the pill better damn well work, shit!"_ **

**_*bang bang click click click*_ **

**_"and also…life’s too fucking sh-short to not say this Lex. I…ai hod--“_ **

**_*static*_ **

_‘She took Raven’s pill’_

  
The thought bounced around in her mind as she stood frozen by her desk

 

It had been a good nine minutes before she registered the white knuckled grip she had on the table in front of her and the fact that she had sagged all of her weight onto her still outstretched hands.

Noticing her loosening grip Indra silently stalked forward and gave her a tissue. Not even turning to look at her, Lexa nodded wordlessly taking the offered cloth. She only then realized a steady stream of wetness on her face was no longer just her sweat.

“Leave. Now.”

Hesitating Indra reached a hand out slightly towards the other woman, “But Command I don-“

“Now Indra, that’s an order.” Her normally stoic words broke around the last few syllables. Feeling exhausted and defeated Indra slumped her shoulder, lowered her head and left the room.

Lexa was a lot of things, she was so smart and compassionate. One of the best leaders they had ever seen with a brilliant tactical mind. She was the strongest of them all…but even Indra knew it would take some kind of miracle for her to recover from this. She had lost her parents to this organization, she had lost her best friend and she had almost lost the only other woman who had taken the place as her mentor, maybe even as an older sister in her life.

And now…even though she would probably never admit it to anyone but herself, she had just lost the woman she had come to love to this organization as well.

She vaguely noted the sound of heavy grunting, and crashes, and screams originating from the room she just vacated. She posted Ryder further down the hall and just out of earshot, allowing the woman the privacy she needed to grieve.

 

Clarke may very well be dead, but she may not have realized that she wouldn’t be the only one that died that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> over 8,000 words, that's a new record, for me anyway


End file.
